# Using old iPod with Windows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363 "2010-02-17T17:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/1 "2010-02-17T17:53:39Z")
Many people ask me and now I wonder… I have an old iPod [touch wheel](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1353#touchwheel) 20 GB. I think this is the right model, according to the descriptioon there. It has the covered FireWire port, has buttons in a ring around the wheel, and the wheel doesn’t physically turn. [This guide](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1335?viewlocale=en_US) tells me it’s It is formatted for Mac. I have a FireWire port on my PC. When I connect my iPod it draws power and recharges the battery. However, it does not show up in iTunes. I therefore cannot load any songs onto it. Any idea how I can use it on Windows Vista? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/2 "2010-02-18T01:51:42Z")
Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/3 "2010-02-18T01:58:56Z")
Start here: [If your computer doesn't recognize your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support](http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1369) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/4 "2010-02-18T13:49:32Z")
That just gives a list of possible problems, but not solutions. I alreasdy know the problem, it’s formatted for Mac. Can anything be done about it? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/5 "2010-02-18T13:58:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > That just gives a list of possible problems, but not solutions. I alreasdy know the problem, it’s formatted for Mac. Can anything be done about it? I don’t think that’s the case. An out-of-the-box iPod will work with a Mac or Windows. There’s no “Formatting” involved. I would start troubleshooting using that list as a guide. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/6 "2010-02-21T05:25:26Z")
Did you do the factory reset suggested by that link? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/7 "2010-02-21T11:02:12Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I don’t think that’s the case. > An out-of-the-box iPod will work with a Mac or Windows. There’s no “Formatting” involved. I would start troubleshooting using that list as a guide. The earlier iPods were formatted differently depending on whether you got the PC or Mac version. I know because I got a Mac version and had to reformat it. I’d have posted this earlier, but it seems that Apple no longer makes the software that I used to reformat it. It was supposed to have been added to iTunes, but if iTunes is not doing anything when you plug it in, then it isn’t working. The factory reset instructions would have been how you’d fix it if it were working. I guess you could try the [older software](http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/ipod_itunes/ipodupdater20060628forwindows.html), as Apple still has it on their site. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/8 "2010-02-21T11:19:46Z")
BTW, you could have multiple problems. One I just thought of is what happens with my iPod, It charges when I plug it in, but the connection is loose, and I have to bend the plug slightly to get the computer to recognize it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/9 "2010-02-21T12:39:55Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Did you do the factory reset suggested by that link? I can’t, because iTunes doesn’t register the iPod. > [@BigT](#): > > The earlier iPods were formatted differently depending on whether you got the PC or Mac version. I know because I got a Mac version and had to reformat it. How did you do that? > [@](#): > > I guess you could try the [older software](http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/ipod_itunes/ipodupdater20060628forwindows.html), as Apple still has it on their site. Okay, I tried that, when I ran it I just got a message saying _No longer supported, use iTunes instead._ ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-old-ipod-with-windows/529363/10 "2010-02-21T14:00:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > How did you do that? By using the software I linked to you. Sorry it didn’t work. Do you have an old computer without iTunes to try it on? Because iTunes contains the reformatting code, and it might have been what stopped it. (You did completely exit it first, right?) And the software was written for XP\*. Other than that: you could install software that lets you read Mac-formatted drives. [Macdrive](http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/) is still out there I think, and they give you a limited trial. But it was notoriously buggy a few years ago when I used it. You could maybe borrow a Mac, and use that. Update it there, and maybe that would make it where Windows iTunes could then detect it and update it. \*I doubt XP compatibility mode would help, but you could try that, too.